Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-18
WENTY"SIX KILLED.
A BRIDGE CRUSHED DOWN BY THE
WEIGHT OLA LOADED TRAIN
On the Boston and Providence Road
Nine Others Fatally Injured Nearly
100 More Less Injured-Scenes
Heartrending in the Extreme.

BosToN March 1.-THE I o'clock train
this morning over the Dedham branch of
the Boston and Providence railroad went
through the Busy bridge, an iron struc-
ture over the highway between Rosindale
and Forest Hills station. The train was
composed of an engine and eight cars, one
of which, the rear one of the train, was IA
combination smoking and baggage car.
These were crowded with people from the
various stations on the branch, nearly all
bound for their daily work in this city.
The majority of the passengers were
women. principally milliners, saleswomen
and shop girls. Probably 30, or possibly
more, people were killed outright or fatal
ly injured, and from 20 to 100 more or less
hurt OF 300 people on the train very few
escaped some kind of injury
The engine and three forward coaches
passed over the bridge, the engine keeping
the rails, but the three cars were derailed
and badly smashed. The fourth car was
the first to go through the bridge, and
those behind it came topping after to the
highway, some 80 feet below, where they
ground themselves into million splinters
The shock upon the three forward cars
broke the engine coupling and stopped
the cars so suddenly that they telescoped
with each other and collapsed
The engineer with wise Judgment rush
ed his engine on to Forest Hills station
where he turned in the fire alarm, this
bringing assistance quickly to the scene.
One of the cars caught fire, but the flames
were quickly subdued by the firemen,
who with detail of police and relief
corps of employees and surgeons set about
TO release the imprisoned passengers and
remove the dead. The scenes were heart
rendlng in the extreme. The dead were
quickly conveyed to the city morgue and
elsewhere and the wounded were carried
to the adjacent depot and to the neghbor-
ing houses. The scene of the wreck has
been visited by thousands of people to-
day
1t has been impossible up to this even
ing TO obtain correct and complete list
of the killed and wounded, owing to the
TACT that Immediately after the catas-
trophe occurred the victims were hastily
removed from the scene and in such wide
ly diverse directions it is extremely diff
cult to trace them all correctly. Some in
Jured were at once conveyed to their
hospitals,
While others still found shelter in neigh
boring houses. The majority of the dead
were brought to the city hospital morgue,
but the others were taken to the depots.
The agents of the railway company are
now diligently at work endeavorlng to
compile complete statistics of the calamity
and full list of the casualties will be
furnished at the earliest practicable mo-
ment.
All day large and efficient corps of
surgeons were at work attending the in
1ured who are more numerous than at
hrst reported, it now being estimated that
nearly 40 received severe wounds. Of
these number will probably die.
curious feature of the disaster is that
the entire bridge went down with the
wreck. Not scrap of iron remained at
tached to the abutments, and but for the |
chasm and the awful wreck beneath there
was nothing to indicate a bridge had once
spanned the abyss. The wreck of the
bridge lay under the debris of the train
almost completely shut out from view.
Lying by the side of one of the splintered
cars was one of the main iron girders of
the bridge which showed clean new
fracture through the entire breadth at the
point of the juncture of two of its parts.
This Grder was composed of two parallel
plates of heavy wrought iron. connected
by braces of wrought iron and the whole
securely bolted.
The opinion is generally expressed by
those who personally inspected the wreck
that the breaking of this girder was the
undOubted cause of the disaster, but there
is much doubt as to the cause of the break
ing of the girder. 1t is stated by some
that there was a Earring and humping
sensation just previous to the crash,
which gives color to the theory that the
fourth car, the first to 90 through the
bridge, was derailed and thrown from its
trucks to the ties of the bridge with such
force as to cause its heavy iron supports
to give away. At the point where the
parallel pieces of iron are bolted together
there was found fracture in the iron
part which is rusted and indicates an
old flaw, while the other portion
showed clean fracture. This might in
dictate that the old flaw had weakened the
truss or girder to such an extent that when
the full weight of the train came upon
the bridge it caused the remaining section
OF the truss to give away. Another fact
bearing upon the cause of the disaster is
the condition of the cars which went over
the bridge with scarcely less damage than
the coaches that went through to the
highway. The first sign of violence is
upon the wood work of the second truck
Of the first car of the train. A very VIC
lent blow from underneath fractured the
heavy by 10 inch oak timber in the frame
work of the truck midway between the
rails and between the axles The blow
was so heavy il lifted the truck from the
track and derailed the car
Engineer White says when going across
the bridge he felt shock which he thought
might have been caused by broken axle.
This, however, could not possibly have
been the first cause of the accident for the
trucks OF the first two cars are in good